Choices
by heidilynn
Summary: Kurt has to make a choice; his happiness or his dad's.


Title: Choices  
>Author: Heidi<br>Rating: T  
>Pairing: None specific<br>Disclaimer: Not my characters, just having fun with them.

Notes: Thanks again to Cindy for her help. And thank you to all my readers who've reviewed and given me great feedback.

"Finn's mom just isn't comfortable living here after everything that happened." Burt told his son at dinner.

"Okay…" Kurt didn't understand where his dad was going with this. He knew his dad loved Carole and Finn.

"I meant to say, she's not comfortable with us all living together." Burt was mangling his words.

"And I still don't get it, Dad." Kurt picked at invisible lint on his clothes.

"Carole seems to think that McKinley High isn't the best place for you to attend school."

"Because…" He wanted an answer about why Carole was suddenly so invested in his life when she was just dating his dad.

"Kurt, Carole's been a little bit uncomfortable with you and Finn which is completely understandable from her point of view."

"Okay." Kurt still wasn't sure what his dad was trying to say.

"We've been discussing things and she gave me these. I thought you could look at them and we'd talk about where to go with them." Burt handed Kurt the booklets.

Kurt was shocked. They were brochures for boarding schools both in Ohio and out of state. Carole had given these to his father? Wow, he'd really underestimated her dislike of him, Kurt thought to himself.

"You really want me to consider these?" Kurt looked up at his father, questions and hurt in his eyes.

"I thought you might be interested in them. They all look pretty good from those brochures." Burt flailed for an answer. "Just tell me which two are your top picks and we'll go from there. Maybe even plan a visit to check them out in person." He didn't see the hurt in his son's eyes.

Kurt plastered a smile on his face. "All right. I'll look them over and let you know."

"You're a good kid, Kurt." Burt smiled and went to the living room to watch tv, leaving his son in shock and to clean up their dinner.

Kurt headed to his room and threw the brochures on his desk. He understood that his dad and Carole were together, but for her to give boarding school info to get him out of the house was an extreme over-reaction on her part.

ZZZZ

School…

"Did you look at that stuff my mom got for you?" Finn bounced around like a puppy dog when they arrived for glee practice.

"Yeah." Kurt snapped, not wanting to get into this discussion with Finn of all people and at school of all places.

"What did you think of them?" He followed Kurt as he sat down in a chair.

"I just skimmed them, Finn. I really hadn't had a chance to thoroughly read them." Kurt shrugged.

"We looked them up on the computer and they were the best ones." Finn added, thinking he was being helpful and a friend to Kurt.

"You and your mother found these places on the computer?" Kurt's words were laced with ice and hurt.

"Yeah. We thought you'd like them since they have good singing programs and looked cool." Finn answered.

"What did Finn and his mom find for you?" Rachel was curious and she just needed to know.

Kurt tried to ignore Rachel, but Finn didn't.

"We found him cool new schools." Finn smiled at his girlfriend.

"New schools?" Rachel asked, unbelievingly, but still curious as to the why.

"Yeah, like these boarding schools in Columbus and Chicago and Minnesota. They were all really cool looking." Finn was still smiling.

"Why would you guys be looking at boarding schools for Kurt?" Quinn asked, blatantly having been listening in on the conversation, just like everyone else in the room.

"Because we can't all live together and my mom thought Kurt needed to go someplace where he could be happy." Finn answered. "And then me and my mom can move in with Burt."

Santana was the first to get the meaning in Finn's words after she straightened his ramblings out in her head. "Are you telling us that you and your mother picked out boarding schools for Kurt, so that you three can live together while Kurt is off living at some school away from his home?"

"Yeah, but Kurt can come home on holidays and breaks and stuff. That's what the websites said." Finn smiled brightly, like that made it all okay.

Mercedes was the first to recover. "Kurt…what does your dad have to say about all this?"

"He gave me the brochures and told me to read them and we'd talk about the two that were my favorites and plan a visit to check them out." Kurt answered flatly.

"Really?" Santana was less than impressed with Kurt's dad in that moment.

"Yes, so can we drop this and focus on glee, please?" He wanted to be anywhere else in that moment.

ZZZZ

"I heard about glee practice from Carole today." Burt mentioned at dinner. "Finn mentioned your friends knowing about the boarding schools to Carole and she talked to me about it."

"I wasn't aware it was a secret, besides Finn was the one who informed Rachel about them." Kurt snapped.

"No, it wasn't a secret or anything." Burt didn't want Kurt to feel that it was a secret. "I just didn't think you wanted to talk about it with your friends."

"I didn't want to talk about it with my friends, but between Finn and Rachel and Quinn, they decided for me to talk about it." Kurt chirped.

"Oh, so have you made any decisions?" Burt wondered.

"What if I said I didn't want to go to boarding school?" Kurt asked.

"I would say that it's your decision, but Carole did all that hard work researching and it would be rude not to consider them."

"Oh." Kurt didn't know what else to say.

"Kurt, these are better schools and you have a chance to be happy there. That's all Carole is worried about."

"I thought she was worried about us living here together, since she's clearly worried about me and Finn in the same house." Kurt was angry, angrier than he'd ever felt in his life.

Burt was at a loss. How the hell was he supposed to tell his son that Carole didn't really want Kurt around Finn at all and she was just tolerating him for Burt's sake? This situation just sucked.

"Never mind, dad. I get it. I mean, I really do get it." Kurt said, his anger gone and he was just tired. Tired of fighting for every little inch. "I'll let you know which school I pick and all the information when I can start. I don't need a visit and I'll start packing tomorrow after school."

"Kurt…" Burt watched his son walk away and he flinched with the shutting door. When did being a parent get this hard…having to choose between his only child and the woman who'd finally brought happiness back into his life?

ZZZZ

"This one." Kurt threw the brochure down in front of his dad. "That's the one I picked."

Burt looked up from his coffee. "Minnesota? Really?"

"It's the farthest one away from Lima, so I know Carole and Finn will be happy to have me so far away that I'll only come home so rarely." Kurt snapped.

"You're not going to boarding school, Kurt." Burt had done his own soul searching through the night and had come to his own decision. "It was unfair of me to let Carole even suggest that idea and then bring it to you."

"I understand, Dad. You deserve to be happy and if Carole and Finn want me out of the house, then I'll stay away. I can deal with this."

"My happiness does not come from sending you away. That's not what I thought was going on. I thought Carole and Finn really were worried about you being safe and happy at McKinley, honestly."

"What made you change your mind?" Kurt was honestly curious since his dad had seemed to be going along with Carole's suggestions right up until last night.

"I talked to her last night about this ridiculous boarding school idea. I told her you'd chosen the school in Minnesota and she was thrilled. I mean, seriously overjoyed and she let it slip that she would be able to turn the basement into a craft and hobby room. When I said that it would always be your room, she said that you wouldn't be using it and you could stay in the guest room when you came to visit as if you were a guest." Burt had felt his heart break when Carole had talked about her son like he were a troublesome guest.

"Dad…" Kurt didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry."

"Maybe it's for the best, Kurt. Carole and Finn would have never accepted you and that's not right in our home." Burt honestly felt like an idiot for letting his ex-girlfriend and her son make Kurt feel so badly in his home, in his one safe place from the world.

ZZZZ

"You really had to go and whine to your dad and break them up?" Finn confronted Kurt in the glee room before practice.

"I did nothing of the sort, Finn. I picked the boarding school in Minnesota and was all set to go, but your mother is the one who opened her mouth to my dad. He made a decision I didn't even know about until this morning, so don't you dare blame me for this." Kurt wasn't going to let Finn completely go off on him about this.

"I do, Kurt, because if you weren't different, my mom and your dad would be happy. We could actually be a family." Finn was pissed off. His mom had been happy and Kurt had gone and ruined that like everything else.

"I am not different, Finn. This is who I am. Your mom knew that when I introduced them. She knew who I was when she became my dad's girlfriend." Kurt said. "I'm sorry her definition of family doesn't include me too."

"I really can't stand you, Kurt." Finn stormed off in a huff.

"What did you do to Finn?" Mercedes asked, having not remembered Finn being so angry since the baby news broke.

"Remember when you guys found out about the boarding school stuff?" Kurt asked his friends.

"Yeah."

"Well, I chose the one in Minnesota and told my dad. He told Carole and she said she was going to change my room into a craft space and when my dad told her it was my room and she suggested he allow me the guest room, it went to hell. They officially broke up and that's what Finn's pissed about." Kurt answered.

"Wow. Okay, I really don't know what to say to all that." Mercedes was honestly shocked by everything. Maybe Finn Hudson wasn't the nice guy that he portrayed himself to be. "What are you going to do?"

"Let it be another day. People break up all the time, Mercedes. Adults aren't any different. My dad said he'd never choose a woman over me, ever." Kurt was grateful that his dad was so spectacular.

Mercedes hugged her best friend and gave him a small smile. She didn't know what else to do to make the situation better. "God, I really love your dad, Kurt. Let's get to class before we're late."


End file.
